Care home will provide jobs boost for Huntingdon

An artist's impression of how the Ermine Street end of the new Huntingdon West Link Road could look.

Plans for a multi-million pound care home in Huntingdon will provide 50 new jobs and a significant boost to the local economy.

A planning application for the 66-bed facility, which will be built on 0.8 acres of land to the west of Huntingdon town centre, was approved by Huntingdonshire District Council at the end of March.

The plans were submitted by LNT Carehome Developments, which will build and also run the care home for elderly people under its Ideal Care Homes wing of the business.

The three-storey home will form part of a wider development of the area, between Brampton Road and Ermine Street, which has planning permission for new homes, a hotel and restaurants.

It will also address the increasing national and local demand for care beds.

“Our home in Huntingdon is a multi-million pound investment, creating at least 50 jobs in the local area,” said the company’s development director Andrew Long.

“We chose this site as it is central to Huntingdon, where there is a clear need for additional quality beds to fulfil the increasing demand in the local area for elderly and dementia care.

“We are very much looking forward to getting on site and bringing our plans to life. Once complete, the home will be a strong community facility, integrating with the nearby local facilities of shops, churches and schools.

“It will provide outstanding accommodation with fully en-suite bedrooms, spacious communal areas, and state-of-the-art amenities and gardens. The home is designed to best enable the delivery of quality care and provide a positive lifestyle choice for local people who may be frail, elderly or living with dementia, many of whom will have spent their lives in Huntingdon.”

According to a report, prepared on behalf of the applicant, the development will bring “important economic benefits to the local economy” in terms of employment opportunities and investment in construction.

“A study undertaken on behalf of the UK Contractors Group found that a £1 investment in construction results in £2.84, in terms of benefits to the wider community,” the report stated. It went on to say: “This development would therefore result in an extremely large contribution to the local economy.”